as many of you know HexWar have pulled out of Field of Glory development as part of a transition they want to make to non PC games. We wish them luck but obviously we can't let a successful game like FoG just wither and die. As a result over the last 6 months we've been looking for a team to replace them. It proved more complex than initially hoped because the source code for the game was all in Real Basic, an IDS that most developers won’t touch with a barge pole! We came to the hard decision that we could not use the current code base for ongoing development. Instead we are having to build the game from scratch in a new engine. Obviously this is a bunch of work and this is the bad news.

The good news is that we've appointed a developer to take on this challenge. The new team are NewRoSoft (http://www.newrosoft.com/index.php). They have a wealth of experience developing games on all formats. This experience will be invaluable for the future of Field of Glory. The thing that really sold us on NewRoSoft though was that the executive producer there is very experienced Tabletop and PC Field of Glory player. You may know him from the forums as Cothyso. This experience and love of the game will ensure that the game continues to be developed in a way that retains the playability and feel that has been the standard up to now. We'd like to say a big hello to the NewRoSoft team and welcome them to the forum and Field of Glory team. We know a number of people on the forum contributed to Field of Glory in various way with HexWar and we'd be happy to continue having them help going forwards so anyone interested in being involved should make themselves known to the NewRoSoft team.

The new engine will be based on Unity. This is a cross platform engine that means we can get PC and Mac up and running as soon as possible. The plan right now is to get the game to the point where we have a replica of the current game in the Unity engine. It may not be possible to exactly map 100% of the combat calculations and mechanics as they are currently coded but we will get something that is a very close approximation. We'll also be refining some parts of the UI or structure that are holding the game back. One example is that we plan to separate out maps and scenarios. This way a user can build a map, then set multiple scenarios on that map without the need to clear off the existing units. There will be various other tweaks and improvements included but exactly what those are will depend on how development goes. We expect this stage to take about 3-4 months but I have to stress this is an initial estimate and could be wildly inaccurate when we get deep in to the combat mechanisms and find issues we had not planned on.

Once the new engine is ready we'll be releasing at least 2 more expansions that are already well in production (Wolves from the Sea & Oath of Fealty).

We will probably have to release the new versions as a new installer that sits in a new folder rather than as a patch. Just to be clear - this new engine will be free to everyone who has the current game.

Once we have the game running in Unity we have a number of options that are still to be decided. We could look at doing an iPad and Android version of the game or we could look at making Field of Glory 2. We may even do both. The new engine opens up a wealth of possibilities that are not currently possible on the existing engine. It's a very exciting time for Field of Glory!

I hope you'll join me in welcoming Dan (Cothyso) and the NewRoSoft team!